This quinoa dish is a wonderful fusion of flavours. Curry spiced quinoa is tossed with chickpeas, toasted pine nuts and plump raisins. Enjoy as a side dish to any meal.
I found this when searching for recipes using chick peas (had leftovers from a batch cooked in crockpot). Sounded interesting so gave it a try. Glad I did! I'll make it again. I did increase the spices quite a bit after tasting finished dish...didn't measure, just "palmed it". Have to admit that the aroma while cooking had me wondering if I'd made a mistake...the combination of spices smelled kinda strange to me, did again when opening leftovers, but I do like the flavor. It's one of those flavors that I found growing on me more with each bite. Increasing the spices considerably didn't drastically change the flavor as much as I thought it would...even though I could feel the beginning of heat in my mouth. Sent leftovers with daughter for school lunch today...waiting to see what she thinks. I used raisins and think that, like others, they add a definite depth to the flavor that's important (and I usually don't care for raisins much). Didn't have any pine nuts so couldn't add those, but will definitely next time...and there will be a next time. Thanks for the recipe!! I've been looking to increase our use of quinoa. UPDATE I changed the rating to a 5. My daughter really likes this for her school lunch. I've made it a few more times and have added pine nuts...they do add another layer of flavor/texture that we like. This is going into our regular rotation making sure to cook for leftovers. - 15 Jan 2009 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
5 STARS ALL THE WAY! This was absolutely delish. I am very impressed. We will definitely add this to our regular rotation! I didn't have garbanzo beans, so I used spicy black beans. I doubled the spices and used half to season 3 chicken breasts then grilled them on the Foreman grill. Sliced and served chicken on top. The raisins add a burst of sweetness with the spiciness, and it's so YUM!! What a meal. - 27 Feb 2010 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
This was amazing and I would highly recommend it. All the flavors come together very well. I highly recommend including the raisins. I added some cayenne to spice it up a bit, and topped it with parsley (cilantro would be good too). Make a big batch and eat all week. - 15 Sep 2008 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)